The Mole Lake Chippewa Reservation consists of nearly 1700 contiguous acres
located in the
Township of Nashville, Forest County. The eastern edge of the reservation
lies two miles west of the
proposed mine/mill site. A dominant physical feature of the reservation is
Rice Lake, a shallow 208
acre lake located entirely within the eastern third of the reservation. Swamp
Creek, the largest
tributary of Rice Lake, runs north of the orebody and enters the reservation
from the east. Rice
Lake is considered one of the best wild rice producing lakes in Wisconsin,
and is a vital part of the
economic and social life of the reservation residents. Bishop Lake lies on
the southwestern border of
the reservation.

State Highway 55 crosses through the eastern portion of the reservation and
connects Crandon, eight
miles to the north, with Lily, ten miles to the south. County Trunk Highway
M runs west along the
southern boundary of the reservation linking Highway 55 with Jennings and
Pelican Lake. The
majority of homes on the reservation are scattered on either side of Highway
55, with a few
residences lying along interior reservation roads.

History - The Chippewa, also known as the Ojibwa, trace their origin to a
group of Algonquian -
speaking Indians who originally lived along the Atlantic coast near the mouth
of the St. Lawrence
River but later migrated to the shores of Lake Huron. Depending on the season,
the Chippewa lived
in villages numbering between 30 and 300 people. Their culture was based
primarily on hunting. In
the winter, families dispersed in order to use the hunt to greatest advantage.
They regrouped to
collect maple sap and greens in the spring, berries and wild rice in the
summer, and nuts and tubers in
the fall.

The first direct contact the Chippewa had with whites occurred about 1610
when French fur traders
entered the Upper Great Lakes. The compatible relationship between the Chippewa
and the French
was based on traders supplying the Indians with manufactured products in
exchange for furs. The fur
trade, however, was disrupted during the French and Indian War of 1755-1763.
Following the revival
of the fur trade, the Chippewa migrated into Wisconsin and prospered by trading
with the British until
the beaver were trapped out by the 1820' s.

During the early 1800 's the Chippewa steadily lost their sovereignty and
territory in lower Michigan,
Wisconsin, northern Illinois and Minnesota through a series of treaties (1819,
1826, and 1837) with the
United States. In 1842, the Chippewa ceded the southern Lake Superior shore
in Wisconsin and
Michigan. With the ceding of additional lands in 1854, the Chippewa only
controlled territory at
Keweenaw and Ontanagon in Michigan, Fond du Lac and Grand Portage in Minnesota,
and Bad River,
Lac Court Oreilles and Red Cliff in Wisconsin. By the 1870 's the Chippewa
entered the reservation
era. Federal policies attempted to change the Chippewa' s hunting and gathering
culture to a
farming, Christian culture through education and control. Today the Chippewa
constitute the third
largest North American Indian people, numbering 50,000 in Canada and 30,000
in the United States.

The Mole Lake Chippewa constitute one of the older resident communities in
the Crandon area. By
1837 the Pelican Lake "Suk-a-Aug-un-ing" had settlements at Post
Lake, Pickerel Lake, and
"Metawanja" Lake, and Rice Lake in the Upper Wolf River. The Sokaogan
Chippewa are believed to
have numbered 200 individuals in 1848. They are the "People of the Post
in the Lake," both to
themselves and to other Indian tribes. In 1855, Sokaogan Chief Me-ge-zee,
also called "The Eagle,"
complained to federal officials that his band had no right of location on
any reservation. Though the
Sokaogan steadfastly held to the claim that a reservation was promised, the
government never
established one. For over 80 years, the Sokaogans continued to occupy their
traditional territory but
their identity as a separate band was ignored by the United States. Four
generations later, under
terms of the Indian Reorganization Act (1934), the United States established
the reservation at Mole
Lake. Membership in the Sokaogan Chippewa band is now determined by direct
blood relationship to
anyone on the 1937 tribal roll.

Population - Total membership of the Mole Lake Sokaogan Chippewa is 1,093.
Currently 271 tribal
members reside on the reservation and another 72 individuals live within
a 50 mile radius of the
reservation (Table 2-47). About 750 members live elsewhere. This figure does
not include 30 babies
born to tribal members living on or adjacent to the reservation during the
years 1983-84 for whom



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